In this publication confructa medien GmbH present beverage innovations from all over the world with specifications like ingredients, company, country, claims, packaging and launch price. What has hit the shelves in the international beverage sector? Which companies and products are the main driving forces in the market? Which trends have become apparent?
The international (non-alcoholic) beverage product review WORLD OF FRUITS 2024 has been published and is available for free download!
The international (non-alcoholic) beverage product review WORLD OF FRUITS 2024 has been published and is available for download!
In this publication confructa medien present beverage innovations from all over the world with specifications like ingredients, company, country, claims, packaging and launch price. What has hit the shelves in the international beverage sector? Which companies and products are the main driving forces in the market? Which trends have become apparent?
Bottled water has retained its title as America’s favourite packaged drink, outselling carbonated soft drinks (by volume) for the eighth year in a row, new data from the Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC) shows.
Bottled water’s total volume sold in 2023 was 15.94 billion gallons, compared to carbonated soft drinks, which sold 11.84 billion gallons. Bottled water retail sales surpassed USD 48 billion, up 6.5 % from 2022.
“Multiple characteristics account for bottled water’s resonance with U.S. consumers, including its associations with healthfulness, convenience, safety, and value. An array of packaging types, ranging from single-serve to bulk, facilitates a wide range of uses,” says John G. Rodwan, Jr., BMC’s editorial director.
“Consumers’ thirst for beverages that offer benefits beyond refreshment alone also contributed to the fundamental hydrating beverage’s rise in the beverage standings. Bottled water’s zero-calorie status and its lack of artificial ingredients appeal to many consumers. Even where tap water may be safe and readily available, people may prefer bottled water, which they often believe tastes better. The availability of packaged water wherever beverages are sold also differentiates bottled water from tap,” says Rodwan.
Bottled water products compete with other packaged drinks, but not tap water. Most bottled water drinkers consume both tap water and bottled water, packaged conveniently in 3 and 5-gallon for the home and office, or at retail 1 and 2.5 gallon or individual size commonly sold by the case. However, when people are away from home and bottled water isn’t available, 70 % say they will choose another packaged drink, according to a survey conducted in 2022 on behalf of the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) by The Harris Poll. Survey respondent choices were as follows: soda (22 %), sparkling or sweetened or flavored bottled water (10 %), sports drink (8 %), tea (7 %), coffee (6 %), juice/fruit drinks (5 %), functional water (5 %), bottled tea (4 %), energy drink (3 %). Among the remaining 30 %, a third (10 %) would drink from a water dispenser, either using a refillable cup (5 %) or disposable cup (5 %). Ten percent would drink filtered tap water, 6 % would drink unfiltered tap water, while 4 % would drink from a public water fountain (down from 7 % in 2019).
For more than a decade, consumers have been increasingly choosing bottled water instead of less-healthy packaged drinks. In fact, since 2012, 34 % of bottled water’s growth has come from people switching from less-healthy drinks to bottled water.
Bottled water’s volume surpassed soft drinks for the first time in 2016 and has done so every year since. Americans consumed, on average, 46.4 gallons of bottled water in 2023, compared to 34.4 gallons of soda. The fact is that consumers demand bottled water. Research shows that nine out of 10 Americans (91 %) say they expect bottled water to be available wherever other drinks are sold.
“Consumer preference for healthy hydration and bottled water is really good news for public health,” says Jill Culora, IBWA’s vice president of communications. “This is particularly important as the nation continues to experience high rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.”
“Bottled water also has the added benefit of packaging that is 100 % recyclable, unlike laminated paper cartons, which technically can be recycled but most often they are not accepted by the majority of municipal recycling systems in the United States. Not only are bottled water containers 100 % recyclable (including the cap) but they also use much less plastic than other packaged beverages.”
Even with continuing growth and increased consumption, bottled water still has the smallest impact on the environment—thanks to the fact that it has the smallest water and energy use footprint of any packaged beverage. On average, only 1.4 liters of water (including the 1 liter of water consumed) and 0.21 mega joules of energy are used to produce 1 liter of finished bottled water.
Most bottled water is packaged in 100 % recyclable PET #1 plastic and HDPE #2 plastic, which are the plastics most recognised by consumers as being recyclable and the most recycled plastics in the world. Consumers can be confident about recycling plastic bottled water containers because they are among the few consumer packaging types that are universally recyclable across the United States. Not all cities and towns recycle glass bottles and laminated paper cartons, which are most commonly comprised of multiple layers of paper, plastic, and aluminum or wax.
PET plastic bottled water containers are the most recycled containers in U.S. curbside recycling programs, accounting for 52 %. PET plastic bottled water containers are a valuable resource because they can be recycled and used over and over again.
Recycling facilities know that there is a huge industry demand for post-consumer PET and HDPE plastics. Many bottled water companies use recycled PET and HDPE plastic to create new bottles, which helps to reduce their environmental impact further because they aren’t using virgin plastic.
“Helping people make healthier choices is at the core of the bottled water business,” says Culora. “Consumers have made it clear that there’s a demand for safe, healthy, and convenient bottled water, as they are responsible for propelling bottled water to the title of America’s most popular packaged beverage, by volume.”
From today, 75 % of the electricity used to make Britvic soft drinks in Great Britain – from Fruit Shoot to Tango, Robinsons to J2O – is coming from a 160-acre solar farm in Northamptonshire.
Providing clean energy to factories in Rugby, London and Leeds, the ten-year solar power agreement covers three quarters of Britvic’s electricity needs in this country – with the aim of reaching 100 % solar powered operations in the near future.
The solar site, commissioned in January 2024 and operational from today, will generate 33 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of energy, enough to power the equivalent 11,500 homes. This could cut as much as 1,113 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the drink manufacturer’s supply chain each year – the equivalent of planting 260,000 trees.
Working with renewables provider Atrato Onsite Energy, the 650,000 square metre solar installation, will scale up to produce 28 MWp. This initiative is part of Britvic’s long-term commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Sarah Webster, Britvic’s Director of Sustainable Business, said: “This is an exciting opportunity to ensure that the some of the country’s most recognisable and much-loved soft drinks are powered by renewable energy.
“We know consumers want to buy more sustainable products, and this is another step towards reducing carbon emissions and our long-term sustainability targets.”
The project makes use of a former quarry site that is unsuitable for farming, with double-sided solar panels that use tracking devices to follow the sun, increasing efficiency by 10 %. The site will provide opportunities for allowing nature to flourish – a rewilding approach that will increase biodiversity.
The announcement is the latest milestone in Britvic’s Healthier People, Healthier Planet sustainability strategy. Last year Britvic signed an agreement to produce Ballygowan Mineral Water using 100 % renewable electricity from wind energy. The company also launched an £8 million project to improve energy efficiency and cut carbon emissions by 50 % at its Beckton site.
Gurpreet Gujral, Managing Director, renewable energy at Atrato Group said: “We are thrilled to complete this landmark and unique agreement with Britvic, reducing carbon emissions while delivering attractively priced energy. Our business model is all about designing unique structures for clients tailored to their energy consumption needs and real estate site constraints, while delivering on sustainability targets and lower energy costs.”
Chris Bowden, Managing Director of Squeaky Clean Energy, said: “Having pioneered the use of corporate power purchase agreements in the UK it has become abundantly clear that new and innovative contracting structures are needed to accelerate the transition to clean energy. The Squeaky team is incredibly proud to have scored another clean energy first with a unique power purchase agreement arrangement that enables Atrato to de-risk the financing of its project and Britvic to deliver on its Healthier People, Healthier Planet sustainability mission.”
About the data, originally provided by Britvic: Carbon dioxide reduction is calculated based on the CarbonFund’s assessment that a single kWh is responsible for 0.3712 kg of carbon dioxide.
A new study is claiming that there is a link between caffeine and substance use in adolescence.
In response to the research, BSDA Director General Gavin Partington said:
This study contains several significant limitations, as the authors themselves acknowledge. BSDA members do not market or promote energy drinks to under-16s, nor do they sample products with this age group. In addition, energy drinks carry an advisory note stating ‘not recommended for children’.
The BSDA Code of Practice on energy drinks was introduced by and for our members in 2010 and contains a number of stringent points on responsible marketing. We remain committed to supporting the responsible sale of energy drinks.
Coca-Cola has launched a new limited-edition Coca-Cola 3000 Zero Sugar within the Coca-Cola Creations platform, with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). The AI, in cooperation with humans, helped create both the taste and the design of the can, as Coca-Cola tries to identify what the year 3000 would look like for beverages. It is not just Coca-Cola using AI in the soft drinks category. Unilever, owner of PepsiCo, has developed AI tools to optimise various aspects of its business operations. Against this backdrop, the usage of AI in the soft drinks industry is set to grow for the discovery of new flavours and to enhance the efficiency of business operations, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
Coca-Cola started with a core question to its customers: What would the year 3000 look like? Consumers were asked how they saw Coca-Cola in the year 3000 via the Coca-Cola Creations platforms. The company then used AI to analyse all the responses to create the framework for the futuristic product based on how people see the future through emotions, ambitions, colours and flavours.
Dragos Dumitrachi, Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Based on these inputs from consumers and its knowledge of beverage trends, the AI created a unique packaging and flavour profile for a carbonate in the year 3000. The packaging format is colourful, with a mix of spherical shapes blended in purple, pink, and blue colours with a pixelated logo, and the AI primarily perceived the future as being sugar-free. This is to be expected as low-calorie carbonates recorded a 39 % growth between 2015 and 2023 globally, with this growth set to continue over the next five years, as consumers increasingly focus on their health and wellness. According to the latest global survey* by Global Data, 81 % of respondents consider that it is nice to have or essential for a product to be good for physical fitness/health.”
Global Data expects the AI market to grow from USD 81 billion in 2022 to USD 90 billion by 2030, with a 35 % compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during 2022-2030. Recent progress in machine learning (ML) on the back of improved algorithms (e.g., Google’s AlphaGo, OpenAI’s GPT-3/ChatGPT, Tesla’s AutoPilot) and increasing computing power have enabled AI to become more widely used in the soft drinks industry.
The AI-driven applications developed by Unilever leverage neural networks and the GPT API is aimed at enhancing the company’s ability to respond to the evolving needs of its consumer base and broader market dynamics. On top of that, Unilever is using AI to identify alternative ingredients that can reinforce the resilience of their supply chains, making their products more sustainable and cost-efficient, and streamlining the number of ingredients without impacting the effectiveness or quality of the products.
Dragos concludes: “The AI market in the soft drinks industry is still in its infancy; the rules and laws that will govern it are still under debate. Global Data is forecasting that the use of AI for supply chain, administrative issues, and the discovery of new flavours and packaging formats in the soft drinks industry will only grow.”
*GlobalData 2023 Q2 Consumer Survey – Global, with 21,595 respondents, published November 2022
Pat Cummins, captain of the Australian Test Cricket team and international sporting icon, has announced an exclusive partnership with the expanded Nexba business. As part of the collaboration, Pat will embrace his love for Kombucha and become a Nexba shareholder and brand ambassador in Goodness Group Global, the better-for-you company.
The multi-year partnership will see the 30 year old right arm fast bowler become a shareholder in Goodness Group Global, as well as a public face of the Nexba brand, and at the forefront of NEW brands to be built under the Goodness Group Global umbrella.
Nexba is a leading brand in ‘Naturally Sugar Free’ functional soft drinks that has removed more than 6 billion grams of sugar from global diets. This year, Nexba expanded to become Goodness Group Global with the goal of building a house of brands that ‘taste good & do good’ while creating positive change by removing sugar and artificial ingredients from consumption.
Pat’s relationship with Nexba and Goodness Group Global adds to his growing portfolio of off-field business interests which he’s looking to grow for his eventual life after cricket.
Nexba is a leading brand in ‘Naturally Sugar Free’ functional soft drinks and kombucha both in Australia & the UK. All of the Nexba drinks are powered by their Goodsweet® natural sweetener which emulates the taste of sugar without the nasties. Consumers, retailers & governments, locally and internationally, are increasingly focused on health & wellness with rejection of both sugar and artificial sweeteners.
The opportunity to own shares alongside Pat Cummins in Nexba and Goodness Group Global is available via a crowdfunded capital raise campaign on VentureCrowd. Budding investors better be quick, as it closes in less than a month!
The European soft drinks sector achieved an impressive average 7.6 % sugar reduction between 2019 and 2022
The European soft drinks sector, represented by Unesda, announced further progress1 on its commitments to the EU Code of Conduct on Responsible Food Business and Marketing Practices,2 with strong results achieved in 2022 in its actions to create a healthier beverage system in Europe.
Ian Ellington, President of Unesda and Senior Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer for PepsiCo in Europe, comments: ‘’As a sector, we remain committed to making significant progress on our many EU Code of Conduct commitments. We have achieved impressive results in our health and nutrition actions and, in particular, in our sugar reduction, marketing and advertising practices and school policies.’’
Ellington added: ‘’The journey has not been easy. Rising inflation in 2022 significantly impacted our ability to use more recycled content in our packaging due to the challenges we faced in accessing food-grade feedstock for recycling. We need policy support to deliver fully circular beverage packaging and to continue advancing on our sugar reduction programme.’’
Among Unesda’s achievements are its actions to encourage European consumers towards healthier dietary habits:
The sector delivered a 6% reduction in average added sugars in its soft drinks between 2019 and 2022 across Europe, as indicated by data analytics and consulting company GlobalData. This represents an additional reduction of 4 percentage points within 1 year (between 2021 and 2022). It shows that Unesda is on track towards meeting its commitment to reduce average added sugars in its beverages3 by another 10 % in the EU-27 and in the UK between 2019 and 2025.4 The success of the sector’s reformulation efforts to reduce sugar largely relies on the use of low- and no-calorie sweeteners to increase the offer of low- and no-calorie beverages. These ingredients should continue to be supported by public authorities and regulators to enable the sector to make further progress on sugar reduction.
Unesda corporate members achieved solid results regarding its marketing and advertising commitment, as demonstrated in the audits carried out by independent marketing and media consultancy Ebiquity (television) and the European Advertising Standards Alliance (websites, social media and influencers).5 The sector reached high compliance rates (98.7 % on TV, 92.9 % on company-owned websites, 94.1 % on company-owned social media profiles, and 100 % on influencer profiles), and is committed to continuing to work towards full compliance of its marketing and advertising commitment.
Unesda corporate members also reported to be highly compliant with the sector’s school policies6 in the four selected EU countries for its 2022 monitoring, conducted by third-party auditors BVA-BDRC:7
Industry faces major challenges to accelerate packaging circularity
Unesda and its corporate members continued their actions to increase the amount of recycled plastic content in their beverage PET bottles to achieve the sector’s objective of using 50% recycled PET by 2025. The cost and availability of this material have been major challenges impacting these efforts. The most effective way to address this issue is to prioritise high-quality recycling in EU and national legislation by granting the sector a priority access right to the feedstock for recycling issued from its PET bottles. This will ensure that PET bottles are recycled into new beverage packaging in a closed-loop system, and are not being downcycled in non-food applications.
The way forward: Policy support is key
The European soft drinks sector remains determined to deliver on all its commitments but needs supportive policies in place to be successful.
In particular, the sector’s further actions to promote healthier lifestyles fully depend on support from EU public authorities and regulators for the use of ingredients assessed as safe by health authorities and on evidence-based dietary recommendations that do not denigrate or discriminate against any ingredient approved for use.
In order to accelerate the transition to full circularity of its packaging, Unesda calls for legislation supporting well-designed, industry-led Deposit Return Systems, the increased collection of beverage packaging across the EU and high-quality recycling through a priority access right to recycling feedstock to ensure a closed-loop system.
In addition, Unesda calls for a realistic regulatory framework on reuse that provides beverage producers flexibility to invest in the packaging mix that makes the most sense from environmental, economic, and consumer perspectives. This also includes considering all available reusable and refill options (at home and on the go) for the achievement of the reuse and refill targets proposed in the proposal for a Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation.
Unesda will continue to engage with EU decision-makers in a constructive manner to help ensure policy predictability and coherence.
1Read Unesda’s 2022 progress report on its commitments to the EU Code of Conduct here.
2The EU Code of Conduct on Responsible Food Business and Marketing Practices was launched by the European Commission in July 2021 and it is an integral part of the EU Farm to Fork Strategy to create a more sustainable food system in Europe. The EU Code of Conduct aims to encourage the entire food and drink sector to provide more sustainable and healthier food and beverage choices.
3Unesda’s sugar reduction commitment is applicable to all product categories under Unesda’s remit, including still drinks, carbonate drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks, dilutables and iced teas, but excludes bottled water, 100 % juices, milk based and hot beverages.
4This will represent a 33 % overall reduction in average added sugars in soft drinks since 2000, building on past sugar reduction milestones that the sector achieved from 2015 to 2019 (14.6 % reduction on average) and from 2000 to 2015 (13.3 % reduction on average).
5Unesda corporate members started implementing an effective Responsible Marketing Code of Conduct in 2006 with its commitment to no marketing communication in printed media, websites or during broadcast programmes specifically aimed at children under 12. Since then, they have reinforced this commitment by extending the scope of media channels in which they do not market and advertise their soft drinks to the under-12s: cinemas in 2008 and the digital world, including company-owned websites, in 2018 when they also tightened the audience criteria and committed not to market and advertise their beverages when 35 % of the audience or more was under 12 years of age. As of 1 January 2022, Unesda corporate members extended the age range by committing not to advertise and market any of their soft drinks to children under 13 years across all media. This includes TV, radio, in print, in cinemas and online, including social media and other online platforms and sites (company-owned websites and video-sharing platforms such as YouTube). It also includes direct marketing, product placement, interactive games, outdoor marketing, mobile marketing and contracted influencers. Unesda corporate members also committed to lowering the audience threshold from 35 % to 30 % so that fewer young children are directly exposed to advertising for any of its soft drinks.
6Unesda and its members are committed not to sell any soft drinks in EU primary schools since 2006 (through direct distribution), and to only sell low- and no-calorie soft drinks in EU secondary schools since 2017 (through direct distribution), and only in non-branded vending machines.
7The monitoring of Unesda’s school commitment is performed every two years in a group of different countries where there is a voluntary school commitment in place to provide a diversified sample of larger and smaller countries from different parts of the EU.
The Scottish Government today announced that it has shelved plans to implement a ban on the sale of energy drinks to children.
Responding to the news, British Soft Drinks Association Director General, Gavin Partington, said: “We welcome this recognition from the Scottish Government that voluntary measures introduced by industry and implemented by many of our retail partners have had a significant impact on stopping the sale of energy drinks to children.
“The BSDA’s voluntary Code of Practice on energy drinks, which was introduced by and for our members in 2010, contains a number of stringent points on responsible marketing, meaning BSDA members do not market or promote energy drinks to under-16s, nor do they sample products with this age group. In addition, their energy drinks carry an advisory note stating ‘not recommended for children’.
“BSDA members remain committed to supporting the responsible sale of energy drinks.”
Beatson Clark’s flexible service and centuries of experience proved to be the winning formula for premium soft drinks company Eager Drinks.
The glass manufacturer based in South Yorkshire has just finished its production run for over 200,000 new and unique glass bottles for Eager Drinks’ new mixer range – Cold Brew Tonics.
Eager, founded in 2007, approached Beatson Clark last year to help them package their first glass bottle drinks range. All of Eager’s other soft drinks, including its signature cloudy apple juice, are packaged using cardboard.
To ensure the success of the new range in a competitive market, founder of Eager Drinks Ed Rigg knew the look and feel of the bottle was imperative to its longevity in the soft drinks market.
“Owing to the fact that Cold Brew Tonics is our first range packaged using glass, we had strict criteria for its look, feel and quality to ensure it was in keeping with our brand and commitment on sustainability,” said Ed.
“We wanted a bottle which used recycled glass in some way and wanted it to look contemporary and modern yet traditional to the touch. We didn’t want an off-the-shelf design. We wanted a bottle which was going to make an impression in a competitive market.
“Beaton Clark’s approach matched our vision. In terms of flexibility, service and quality, they win every time compared to competitors in the UK and abroad.”
Working closely with Eager Drinks, Beatson Clark designed and produced a unique 200ml white flint glass bottle. The brief was to produce a container which looked modern and contemporary but had a traditional and vintage feel to it.
The container is heavier than a standard bottle to give a high-quality, premium feel in line with its intended consumer market. The bottle is embossed around the shoulder with the words ’EAGER’ and around the base with the words ‘PRODUCED IN SMALL BATCHES’.
Jonathan Clark, Account Manager at Beatson Clark, commented: “It’s been a pleasure to work with the Eager team from concept right through to production. As Ed has found out, what we offer in terms of service is only matched by the quality of the product we make.
“For an established drinks company entering the competitive mixer market for the first time, the packaging is just as important as the quality of what’s inside. The drinks are different to anything else on the market owing to the unique production process, and the packaging reflects that.”
Each flavour in the range – Tonic, Light Tonic, Smoked Tonic, Lemonade, Ginger Beer, Artisan Lemonade and Club Soda – is produced by packing bunches of dried fruit peel into hessian bags and placing the oil-rich rinds in cold water for 24 hours before the product is carbonated.
“Each mixer has a purer and deeper flavour than any other mixer drink on the market, so we wanted to make sure the taste is preserved for as long as possible. That’s why we chose glass, because it does that better than any other form of packaging and it’s 100 per cent recyclable,” said Ed.
The premium, high-end range was launched last month and is already on sale in bars, hotels and restaurants across the country.
